Wheelchair seat adapter plate
We created an adapter plate to mount a supportive seat to a powered wheelchair base for young man with Cerebral Palsey and scoliosis.
The Challenge
Our client is a teenager with Cerebral Palsy, and also scoliosis (curvature of the spine). He has used highly supportive specialist seats from R82 (part of the company Etac), throughout his life, but was outgrowing his current powered wheelchair/seat setup.
A full sized Sunrise Medical Quickie Q400 M powered wheelchair was procured by mum and dad on the understanding an adapter plate was available for a new R82 seat for that wheelchair, similar to the previous setup. However, this proved not to be the case, leaving mum and dad in an awkward position with some very expensive equipment purchased, a child in increasing discomfort, and no obvious way forward.
There was a further consideration that both items would have undergone testing by their respective manufacturers to simulate performance in a vehicle crash met the same standards as other seated occupants, but the combined items couldn’t reasonably be re-tested as a unit.
The solution
Taking the above factors into consideration, Remap proceeded with the project working with the wheelchair supplier and Etac, on the basis that a strong adapter plate could be made which comfortably exceeded the strength of the supplied R82 locking seat base. The adapter plate was bolted down to the wheelchair chassis using existing machine screw fixing points – which avoided permanent modifications to the brand new chair. The following photos show the existing mount points which were utilised, and the new adapter plate, which also clamps around the rear of the deck of the wheelchair.
Six existing machine screws set the seat platform width. These were utilised to secure the adapter with longer machine screws.
Seat adapter with R82 seat mount in place.
Underside of adapter plate.
The new adapter being test fitted to the powered wheelchair base.
Oak blocks spray painted to match the chair lift the arms up to the required height.
A disability switch holder was required at the front of one arm.
Additional harness mount points were required further forward.
A linkage to connect the footplates together, by request.
The benefit
Our client was able to use his new wheels!
- Skills involved:
- Issues Addresses:
- Activities Helped:
- Location:
- Solution: